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CarL1 Winston-Salem Dash

Winston-Salem Dash Game Notes

May 20, 2011 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Winston-Salem Dash News Release


WINSTON-SALEM DASH (18-22) vs. SALEM RED SOX (21-17)

Friday, May 20, 2011, 7:05 p.m. | BB&T Ballpark | Winston-Salem, NC

Webcast available on www.wsdash.com 15 minutes before first pitch

Game No. 41 | Home Game No. 23 | 2011 Home Record 10-12 | 2011 Road Record 8-10

RHP Cameron Bayne (3-3, 3.35) vs. RHP Junichi Tazawa (-, -)

Catching Some Z's: The Dash saw their three-series winning streak officially end last night with a 3-1 defeat against the front-running Pelicans. After Winston scored a run in the first inning on a wild pitch, Myrtle Beach tied the game with the first of two solo home runs by catcher Zach Zaneski. The Pelicans took the lead in the next inning on a sac fly and Zaneski's seventh-inning homer gave his team enough insurance to win the game. It was Zaneski's second multi-home run game of the season and it gave him five homers in 2011. Myrtle ended up taking three out of four games at BB&T Ballpark to snap the Dash's three-series winning streak and extending its lead over the Dash in the division to seven games. The Pelicans have won six out of seven against Winston-Salem this season.

Ready for their Close-Up: Tonight marks the first of six regular season Dash games that will be broadcast on television. WXII's "THIS Carolina" channel will televise the live broadcast of tonight's series opener between the Dash and Red Sox. THIS Carolina also broadcast the Dash's exhibition game against the White Sox on March 30 and it can be found over-the-air on digital channel 12-2 and on Time Warner Cable channel 121. Alex Vispoli will call the play-by-play alongside White Sox minor league pitching coordinator Kirk Champion.

Blue Sox: The Salem Red Sox visit BB&T Ballpark tonight to start a three-game weekend series with the Dash. A week ago, Salem had the best record in the Carolina League and was about to begin a seven-game home stand against the Dash and Wilmington Blue Rocks. But after seven winless games at LewisGale Field, the Red Sox are reeling and have fallen three games behind Myrtle Beach for first place in the Southern Division. Last weekend, Winston-Salem earned its first sweep in the Roanoke Valley since the middle of the 2006 season, swiping a pair of extra-inning games and one-hitting the Red Sox in the other contest. Last night, Salem suffered its cruelest defeat yet: over nine innings the Red Sox allowed just one Wilmington hit, a Deivy Batista home run, but lost 1-0 when none of their six hits materialized into runs.

Big Stretch: The Dash are in the midst of a defining stretch for the first half of the season with ten straight games against the top two teams in the Carolina League: Salem and Myrtle Beach, two teams that happen to be in the same division as Winston-Salem. The Dash are 4-3 through seven games against the Red Sox and Pelicans and can put themselves into position to make some noise for a potential playoff berth if they come out ahead during these important games.

Pumping up at the Gac Station: Ian Gac's two home run game Wednesday was the first multi-homer game for any Dash player this season and the 11th of his career. His second home run gave him 140 career dingers in nine professional seasons. Gac leads the Carolina League in homers and is on pace to hit 46 this season. He appears well on his way to surpassing his previous career-high of 22, a number he reached while playing for Bakersfield in 2009. Gac is second in the CL in RBI (29), tied for first in games (40), tied for fourth in at bats (148) first in slugging percentage (.615), first in extra-base hits (23), first in runs scored (32), first in total bases (91), and first in best HR/AB ratio (1/11.38).

Hector's Sector: Hector Santiago added another highlight to his fine season last night, throwing a career-best eight innings against the Pelicans. Unfortunately, Santiago took the loss despite allowing just three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out six. In his previous start, the former relief pitcher allowed just one hit over six shutout innings and has now lasted six or more innings in each of his last three outings. This season, Santiago has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his eight starts and outside of one rough outing against Wilmington (7 ER, 4 IP), he owns a 2.48 ERA.

Rotation Revolution: Santiago's outing continued a strong stretch for Winston-Salem's starting pitchers. The Dash have quality starts from their starters in eight of the last ten games and the rotation has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 17 of the last 20 contests, posting a 3.03 ERA (39 ER, 116 IP) in that stretch.

Colombian Exchange: Luis Sierra's tough start to the season is now a fading memory, as the Colombian catcher has been red-hot over the last two and a half weeks. Sierra started the season just 2 for 27 (.074) at the plate, but appears to have rediscovered the form that led him to post a career-best year in 2010. Since the slow start, Sierra is hitting .316 (12 for 38) with two doubles, a triple, a home run, six RBI, and nine runs scored. For the month of May, he leads active Dash players in batting average and on-base percentage (.381).

Keeping ‚¬Ëœem Close: The Dash have played mostly close games this season. Thirty-three of the team's 40 games have been decided by three runs or fewer and the team has had a lead in 31 games this season. Winston has played 15 one-run games and 13 two-run games. The Dash are 7-8 in one-run games and 6-7 in two run contests. At this rate, the Dash would play 98 one - or two-run games this season.

Today's Opposing Starter: RHP Junichi Tazawa (-,-) begins his road back to the major leagues tonight against the Dash. Tazawa missed all of last year with an elbow injury he suffered in spring training that required Tommy John surgery. He has not pitched in a regular season game since his first year as a professional near the end of the 2009 season. That season he pitched at three levels, including six games in the big leagues for Boston. He started 2009 in AA Portland and went 9-5 with a 2.57 ERA in 18 games before moving up to AAA Pawtucket for two starts (0-2, 2.38 ERA). With the major league club in need of pitching during in the middle of a pennant race in an injury-riddled season, Tazawa was called up to Boston in early August. His major league debut came in a memorable 15-inning game against the Yankees on August 8 in the Bronx. The first batter he faced was fellow countryman Hideki Matsui, who lined out. The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the 15th inning before Alex Rodriguez hit a walk-off, two-run home run off Tazawa to win it for New York. Tazawa got his revenge a few weeks later, throwing six shutout innings against the Yankees and picking up the win. In six games (four starts) with the Boston Red Sox, Tazawa went 2-3 with a 7.46 ERA. Tazawa's signing with Boston created a bit of a firestorm in his native Japan, as he asked the county's major league teams not to draft him after starring in the industrial league so that he could sign freely in the United States. Had he signed with a professional team in Japan, he would have had to wait nine years to become a free agent or hope his team would auction his services to the highest US bidder via the posting system that famously brought fellow Japanese right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka to the Red Sox. Begrudgingly, the Japanese teams agreed and Tazawa became the third Japanese player to sign with a US team directly out of amateur baseball, inking a three-year $3.3 million major league contract with Boston. Prior to his injury, Tazawa located his 88-92 mph fastball well and his arsenal also featured a slider, curveball, and splitter.

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